Linda Valdez has been writing commentary for The Arizona Republic since 1993. A graduate of the University of Arizona, she worked at The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson before coming to the Republic.She has won numerous state and national writing awards. In 2011, she won the Scripps Howard Walker Stone Award for editorial writing, and she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. She is author of a book, "A Doctor's Legacy," which tells the life story of Merlin K. "Monte" DuVal, the man who founded Arizona's first medical school at the University of Arizona. She has done commentaries on radio and television in Tucson.Valdez has been married since 1988 to a wonderful man who immigrated from Mexico. They have a beautiful daughter.

John Huppenthal was a champion of efforts to offer “alternatives” to public education when he served in the Legislature. Those who elected him as Superintendent of Public Instruction should not be surprised to see him promote an agenda that siphons public money into private schools.Sure, it’s shameless. But so are efforts at the Legislature to establish what amounts to a full-on voucher system after years of meat-ax cuts to public schools.People, this is what happens when you: 1) don’t pay attention, or 2) don’t vote.The convoluted definition Huppenthal offered of his job as head of public instruction to “defend all students as members of the public,” not as “superintendent of public schools” is right in character.It’s only surprising to those who aren’t keeping track of the right-wing agenda.
But, hey, no hard feelings, OK?
Huppenthal issued a statement this afternoon saying “I have great regret if any member of the public school system felt anything less than my full appreciation for what they do on a daily basis.”
So feel good about yourselves, teachers. He’s got your back. Right?

Open arms are very Christian. Why else would a man of God have spent more than a year lobbying the Pima County Supervisors to declare his county an “immigrant welcoming” community?Well, there could be one other reason.The Rev. Randy Mayer of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church said: “We can set ourselves apart.”Apart from Maricopa County.Mayer and the Pima County Interfaith Council are part of a coalition of religious leaders who want to make it clear they still don’t like SB 1070 – the draconian anti-immigrant law that tarred all of Arizona.Down in Baja Arizona, things have always been much friendlier. Tucson honors its Mexican heritage. The faith coalition has been lobbying the supervisors for more than a year to pass the non-binding resolution.But these days the motivation may be a bit more crass than just “love thy neighbor to the south.” Supervisor Ally Miller, who leans far more to the right than most of the board, supported the measure, saying, “We need to catch up and assure we are competitive in this global community.” Mexico, she said, “is quickly growing into an economic power.”What’s more, Maricopa County may be getting a clue.A push by the Maricopa Association of Governments to expand the border crossing zone statewide has caused some concern in Tucson, which currently benefits from the 75-mile limit. To go further, you need more paperwork.In February, Mike Varney, head of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, told the Arizona Daily Star that “since Mexican visitors are confined to our immediate area, there are enormous benefits for Southern Arizona . . . if we want Mexican visitors to spend their dollars here, we would naturally want to keep that 75-mile zone in place.”Could it be that Arizona cities are now going to start competing for Mexico’s favor?

The corporate world offers a new take on the old biblical question: Am I my brother’s keeper?Let’s face it, friends and families are expected to care. But the higher you move on the fame and power scale, the more distant the concept of shared responsibility gets.Celebrities give little thought to how their actions impact impressionable young fans (Justin Bieber). Politicians make self-interest supreme (pick a name).And business? Well, now. Corporate giving helps a great many charities. But Mitt Romney’s vision of corporations as people didn’t catch on because it is so utterly at odds with reality. We don’t think of corporations as people, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United notwithstanding.But the decision by CVS Caremark Corp. to stop selling tobacco products feels very much like something your Aunt Bea might do on your behalf. Kindly. Caring. Unselfish.Phasing out coffin nails and other tobacco products will cost the nation’s second-largest drugstore chain an estimated $2 billion in annual revenue.Why stop selling a profitable product?“We’ve come to the conclusion that cigarettes have no place in a setting where health care is being delivered,” CEO Larry Merlo explained.Wow. Pause and consider what that could mean in other contexts.Imagine if Walmart announced it would no longer sell guns because it came to the conclusion that weapons have no place in a setting where school supplies are sold.OK. That seems unlikely. The gun lobby rules. But the retailers could certainly make the same incongruity argument that CVS offered. What’s more, when the landmark 1964 surgeon general’s report on the dangers of smoking hit the streets, it seemed unlikely that cigarettes would ever disappear from airplanes, restaurants and bars.Now, they will disappear from a pharmacy near you.CVS will stop selling a profitable product because that product is at odds with the corporate image of caring about their customers’ health. This decision moves CVS a little further down the road that some other stores have been paving.Safeway, for example, announced it will stop selling pork from suppliers that confine pregnant sows in gestation crates, which restrict animals’ movement. Whole Foods Market is in the process of getting all products in the store labeled to show if they contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs).These decisions respond to consumer demand. Distancing your brand from food-production processes that some people reject is a logical way to lure customers. It’s good for business.Banning the sale of tobacco is more of a “good for you” decision. There will still be customers who want to pick up a pack along with their prescription. But Aunt Bea is saying, “Not in my house, young lady.”CVS made a decision that’s good for people — not just business.Again, imagine if this caught on.But this time, keep in mind that not everybody agrees on what’s good for people.Craft chain Hobby Lobby and manufacturer Conestoga Wood Specialties are challenging the requirement in the Affordable Care Act that health insurance for employees include contraception. They want the Supreme Court to say that for-profit corporations have freedom of religion rights, just as the court said in Citizens United that corporations have free-speech rights.Some see the Hobby Lobby position as a moral stand.I see it as an effort to control the lives of employees, which is something businesses have been criticized for since before Tennessee Ernie Ford sang “I owe my soul to company store.”When it comes to being watched over by your brother — or a big corporation — the value of the caring is very much in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes, you want Aunt Bea to mind her own business, and sometimes you don’t.For example, I will never shop at Hobby Lobby. But I may pick up a few things at CVS this weekend.Reach Valdez at linda.valdez@arizonarepublic.com, read her blog at Valdez.azcentral.com or follow her on Twitter @valdezlinda.

Boehner must have them on a leash.Despite calls from the mastodons at the Weekly Standard and National Review to stonewall reform, the House Republicans issued a set of principles for immigration reform that look a lot like what the Senate passed in June.But they are general principles that allow plenty of wiggle room. They also come with the obligatory slap at the Senate for its “massive piece of legislation that few have read and even fewer understand.”The House will not -- repeat, not -- go to a conference with a bill none of them want to read, either. But the big deal – of course – is legalization.The House GOP wants to let the 11 million get right with the law. No path to citizenship, but no prohibition on it, either. That’s a big deal. What’s more, the Dreamers get a welcome mat instead of another invitation to get lost.Turning a set of principles into a bill short and simple enough for our lawmakers to actually read and understand will be the hard part.But these principles are a good place to start.

8:21 -- The set-up is big. A wounded soldier tells that his recovery was not easy.Inspirational. Touching.But what is Obama trying to inspire? That America needs to put its collective shoulder to the wheel of progress? Sorry, but this speech really did little to inspire.And I’m a fan of the president.8:01 -- Gun control? Last year the memory of the Newtown, Conn. elementary school massacre was fresh. Obama called for background checks on all gun sales. Nothing happened. This year former Rep. Gabby Giffords released an ad calling on Congress to show the courage to stand up to the pro-gun lobby. Obama’s discussion of the need to do something was a litany of the shootings and a bland, general reference to duties of citizenship. So play nice. OK?
7:50 -- Raise wages, Obama says. It’s good for America. “I intend to lead by example,” he says. He will issue executive order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 for employees under new federal contracts.He wants Congress to act. More money for the economy. “Give America a raise.”He called for an increase in the minimum wage in the last State of the Union.This year Obama has the unlikely ally of Ron Unz, California conservative and Silicon Valley mega-millionaire, who is supporting a California push to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour. Unz, who lead the unenlightened fight against bilingual education, says the taxpayers are subsidizing low-wage employers through food stamps and other programs for low-income folks.Reason from the right. Who knew? But Unz is not in Congress.
7:45 -- He talks about education. But this speech sounds more like Cliff Notes than a carefully crafted presentation. Education. College. Pre-K. Since Congress didn’t act on his call for expanding pre-K, Obama is pulling together a group to find way to give more kids access to pre-kindergarten. Wow. A committee. Talk about your concrete ideas.
7:38 -- Immigration: Members of both parties want reform, he says. It’s good for economy: “Let’s get immigration reform done this year.”Is that it? What happened to the concrete? This is as firm as a marshmallow.
7:33 -- Protecting more land for future generations. Now he’s talking. This is something he can to without Congress.
7:29 -- America: Where the son of a barkeep can be Speaker of the House and the son of a single mom and be president.Opportunity ‘r’ us, says Obama. Then we get another pitch for working together so he and Congress can keep jobs here in the good, old USA.Did we hear this stuff last year?Meanwhile, the GOP says: In your dreams. The best opportunity they see is the chance to make him a one-term president. Oops. Wait a minute. That’s old, too.When that failed, they brought in the tag team of Stonewall and Roadblock. These are the guys Obama wants to pass bills and get them to his desk? Oh, please.
7:24 -- Obama says he’s offering “concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class.”Concrete, eh? Not a good idea to provide the GOP with a hard, blunt instrument. They will use it to beat up the president and the Democrats.Obama sees government as a tool to serve the people. The GOP sees it as an inept “Uncle Sugar.”These visions do not align.
7:21 -- The president is telling Congress it’s time to “make progress together.”On which planet has he been living?In the rarified atmosphere of Potomac-land, working together is as popular as catching the flu the day before vacation.
7:10 -- Don’t you love the pageantry?
The applause. The announcement. The hand shaking. That air kisses. The president pretending he wants the applause to stop.
Those who pooh-pooh the State of the Union as empty form without substance miss the larger significance. This is our show of aristocracy. Downton Abbey in the middle of the week.
Just look at all those expensive clothes, Boehner’s stylish green tie and all fresh, new hairstyles. This speech provides its own economic boomlet.
6:45 -- High-flying oratory was Obama’s signature skill. But the bitter realities of dealing with a hostile opposition party while trying to put a happy face on a sluggish recovery greatly diminished the power of his once-soaring rhetoric. Worse yet, he’ll be framing an economic argument about why inequality matters before a bunch of privileged millionaires.Middle class angst? Creeping poverty? Shrinking opportunities? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pass the Kleenex.Republicans in Congress demonstrated their utter lack of interest in working (or out of work) Americans by failing to extend unemployment benefits.He’s trying to whip up enthusiasm for a "year of action" in front of the champion do-nothing Congress.

President Obama will talk about immigration reform tonight during the State of the Union. Big deal.He can’t top the show being staged by the GOP unless he issues an executive order deferring deportation for the parents of Dreamers and all their aunts and uncles.Right now, the action is in the GOP’s circus.Republicans will go into retreat this week with leaders shopping a list of principles for immigration reform. Can the mastodons be moved? Don’t bet on it.The basest of the GOP base are calling for stonewalling on reform for the sake of preserving a perceived political advantage after the rocky rollout of Obamacare.Never mind the crying need for reform. Never mind that broken immigration policies cost lives, keep working people in terror that their families may be torn apart by deportation, and leave business without the legal workforce it needs.The National Review ran an editorial on immigration reform this week telling the GOP “Don’t do it.” The GOP principles are expected to call for a path to legalization, not citizenship, but the Review is revving up the opposition with the old red meat letter A.“House leadership is about to roll out a set of immigration principles reportedly including an amnesty for illegal aliens,” the editorial hisses.William Kristol of the Weekly Standard said reform is “a recipe for disaster” for the GOP.For these mastodons, politics outranks finding a solution to one of the nation’s most pressing problems. It's a venal and obscene example of putting politics ahead of patriotism. Meanwhile immigrant advocate groups are urging Obama to use executive orders to extend deferred deportation to the parents of Dreamers and other long term residents, and to end deportations of those who might be legalized if Congress ever does anything on immigration reform. So the president can steal the show back with a flourish of his pen.Maybe he’ll put a Jan Brewer tonight and throw something really surprising into a speech everyone expects to be pure boilerplate.

Long ago, before people read newspapers on glowing screens, I worked at The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. We were ink-stained.One of my co-workers was Judy Donovan, a woman who could fillet a politician with the deftness of an Iron Chef. A tough lady.One day she asked me to read a column she’d written. It was about the death of her dog, who was named Virginia Woolf. When I finished reading, I kept my head down and tried to compose myself. She was waiting for an answer: Is it too sentimental? I looked up, tears streaming down my face and said, “Oh, no. Not at all. It’s good.”It was good. And sentimental.Now it’s my turn to talk about saying goodbye to a faithful companion.I first saw my little dog Amber in the fall of 2000. She was shivering in a cage at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. They said she was a Jack Russell-beagle mix. I thought she looked pure crazy. My husband kept coming back to her.“What about this little one?” he said.So we took her home. And she was crazy. But she was also as sweet as your grandma’s kiss, and always a good sport when it came to things like wearing Halloween costumes or Santa suits, and doing her sit-up trick for guests.When she was young, I could whisper “squirrel” and she’d jump up out of a sound sleep and race to the back door, scrambling for traction on the tile like a cartoon character running in place.She was deaf by last summer, so the squirrels got a break. By Thanksgiving, her eyesight was fading -- though she did manage to find where the pies were cooling.She licked the meringue off the lemon pie so cleanly that my nephew suggested maybe we could just whip up some more and top it off again. (We didn’t.)She helped my daughter grow up, offering lessons about loyalty, resiliency and the importance of regular mealtimes.She grew old while my child became an adult.On the last day she was with us, Amber and I walked around the yard so she could visit her favorite places and sniff the scent of squirrels she could no longer chase. I stayed close so she wouldn’t bump into anything sharp.When I posted the news of Amber’s death on Facebook, there was an outpouring of compassion. The vet sent a condolence card. A neighbor brought over a book called “I Will See You in Heaven,” and we cried. The author, Father Jack Wintz, is a Franciscan friar. He writes: “There are a lot of things we just don’t know about life with God, and one of these things is how nonhumans participate in that life.”We do know the nonhumans enrich our lives.Another neighbor just lost her father. She told me how her dog was a welcome visitor to the hospice in the last days. Unlike the humans, the dog didn’t expect updates or reassuring conversation. She was just there. A benevolent presence. A fellow traveler on the way to the next life.I told my neighbor I was sorry about her father. She said she was sorry about my dog. There is no equivalency, of course. A dog is not a person. But the pain of loss is a universal emotion, even when it’s the loss of a pet.Amber was a good friend. I miss her. That’s sentimental.But we get more than weepy goodbyes from our dogs. At least we could.Imagine if humans practiced what our dogs teach by example. Not just the guilty pleasures of stealthy pie stealing. Humans already know a lot about guilty pleasures.I’m talking about unconditional love. The joy of long walks and longer naps. The tenacity to keep chasing squirrels you’ll never catch. The humility to accept kindness. The wisdom to just be.That’s what we can learn from our good dogs.E-mail Linda.Valdez@ArizonaRepublic.com read her blog at Valdez.azcentral.com or follow her on Twitter @valdezlinda

Only the naïve should be surprised that after calling for a brand-new child welfare agency, Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposed budget gives it less than the much-maligned DES head Clarence Carter asked for last fall.Carter wanted 444 new workers and more than $115 million just to keep pace with the challenges facing what was then called Child Protective Services.That was before all the shock and outrage about more than 6,500 reports that went uninvestigated. Those uninvestigated cases were an example of how triage for the sake of stretching staff can put kids at risk. It showed how badly the agency needed the new workers.On Monday in her State of the State address, Brewer abolished CPS as we knew it. She created a stand-alone Cabinet-level agency that answers to her, and asked the Legislature to pass laws to make her creation a legal reality.Big wows all around.But – as all but the naïve expected – Brewer wants this agency to operate on the cheap, too. Her budget calls for an addition of nearly $90 million, which includes $25 million in start up money and $21.5 million to hire 212 new caseworkers and 93 criminal investigators.That’s less than Carter wanted before we got the latest evidence of how bad things are over there. It’s also Brewer’s opening gambit, so you know she’ll get less than that from the tightfisted GOP Legislature.In creating a new agency, she has given them a whole new reason to stall funding.In his response to the governor’s budget, Senate President Andy Biggs talked about the governor’s “judicious approach” in restructuring the agency. He said, “Once we have discovered the root of the systemic problem, we can build a new foundation for helping this vulnerable population. “The root of the problem is the shortage of resources. Saying “once we have discovered the root of the systemic problem” is code for let’s spend more time looking and less money fixing.It is no mystery what’s wrong with the state’s child welfare system.It has been understaffed and underfunded for a very long time. Caseworkers lack the technology to do the job efficiently.Those who cheered this big, bold action by the governor were taken in.This is starvation rations as usual for the people who are charged with helping Arizona’s most vulnerable kids.

The nicest thing Democrats could do for their gubernatorial candidate Fred DuVal is find a primary challenger for him.It’s the best way for him to get some media time and attention between now and the primary. The multi-faceted circus on the GOP side will eclipse DuVal unless he, too, has opposition to play against. A challenger is the ticket to debates, where DuVal can showcase his intelligence, charisma and understanding of the issues.A challenger will result in news coverage as the two duke it out over issues. It’s not news when somebody releases a policy paper. It is news when candidates mix it up.A challenger will provide the kind of name repetition the GOP candidates gain every time one of the goofier wanna-bes says something outrageous.Conventional wisdom says DuVal benefits from not having to waste money or energy on a primary race. He won’t emerge muddied from a fight.Muddy is better than invisible.Besides a primary gives a candidate the chance to hone the message before a live audience. It can also provide a chance to look good just by comparison – especially if the challenger is a bit beyond the spectrum of what most people consider normal political ideology. Who can deny that anybody standing next to Andrew Thomas or Al Melvin looks a little more rational? It’s a relative thing.That’s what DuVal needs: the Democratic equivalent of Andrew Thomas. So Democrats, do yourselves and Fred a favor.Find a primary opponent who will keep your candidate from disappearing during primary season.

2:47 -Brewer followed last year’s model and added a zinger to her speech – something that was not in the prepared copies she made available before she spoke. She did this last year with her proposal to expand Medicaid.This time it was her announcement that she abolished CPS. Jaw dropping. But it will accomplish little if chronic underfunding is not corrected. Unless the new agency gets adequate staffing and equipment, Brewer’s bold move may be little more than a distraction. Let’s hope not.She offered a litany of smiley-face ideas. Who is going to oppose helping abused kids or victims of human trafficking? Who isn’t glad Arnold vs. Sarn is settled? But these goals will be impossible unless the state has more revenue. But the governor is pushing more revenue-robbing corporate tax cuts. That does not compute.The big missed opportunity? Not a peep about trade with Mexico.The door was pushed wide open by the Mexican consul’s remarks before Brewer arrived. Was she listening? The door was propped open by House Speaker Andy Tobin, who said Arizona has a chance to play a key role in the “Century of the Americas” by improving Arizona-Mexico trade.Brewer walked on past that open doorway.Her coy refusal to admit she can’t run again was a teaser. But the big question: Can Arizona’s governor quote anybody except Ronald Reagan?
2:36 -More tax breaks for business means less revenue for education. Brewer approach to schools? Gotta get better. Following recession-era cuts to K-12 that were among the worst in the nation, she talks an “ambitious” proposal to reward successful students. A nice idea. Interesting pilot. But this is no way to rebuild a fund that was attacked with a meat cleaver.Calling on the Board of Regents to hold the line on tuition makes sense. But how can the universities pay for this?
2:30 -Brewer is seeking a kinder, gentler legacy. But what about the Dreamers?
2:25 --Zinger. Brewer goes beyond her prepared speech to call for a new agency to replace CPS. She says she’s created a new division to replace CPS, and she wants the Legislature to help her design a new agency. Big news that – unfortunately – did not address the long-standing need to fund child welfare for success, not starvation.
2:21 - Brewer talks about helping families with school choice, which undermines public education, and “protecting the unborn,” which means eliminating reproductive choices for women. This is helping political and religious ideology, not helping Arizona families.
2:20 -The state of our state is strong? Count me among the naysayers, governor. After to-the-bone cuts to services and permanent reductions in revenue, Arizona is unable to provide the level of services its people expect from their government. Give us more than smiley-face fantasies.
2:15 - The “Arizona Comeback”? Nice try, governor.Today’s better budget days are thanks to the Arizona taxpayers, who approved the temporary 1-cent sales tax that got us through the recession. Yes, Brewer pushed for the temporary tax. But she also supported mortgaging state buildings, which will cost the state $616 million in interest, and she signed corporate tax breaks that will put Arizona back in the red when all they fully kick in.The only thing coming back will be budget shortfalls.
2:13 - Salute to Yarnell firefighters and Ben Miranda. Moment of silence for firefighters. A nice way to start. Decent and welcome reminder that we all owe a lot to many others. 12:43 - During the opening session at Arizona’s House, Mexico’s Consul General Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez says there’s evidence that Arizona wants stronger trade relationship with Mexico. He cites Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton’s visits south and Phoenix’s plan to open a trade office in Mexico City. He talks about House Speaker Andy Tobin’s visit to Mexico last year.And Gov. Jan Brewer? Not a peep about her. She’s done nada.Let’s see if she takes up this generous offer for a “new era, new beginning, new relationship” with Mexico that Rodriguez Hernandez talks about.Will she remember Mexico in her speech? Please.This is an opportunity Arizona should not miss. 11:30:The accidental governor has a very important mission today: sooth the hurty feelings of the conservatives she ran over with a bus full of Democrats last year.So expect a lot of Obama slamming and plenty of jabs at the federal government. You know, the same federal government that has the money she wanted badly enough to run over all those unsuspecting conservatives. You know, those Medicaid matching funds.Face it: There are some times when you want to climb up on your rich Uncle Sam’s lap and smile. But this isn’t one of them.You’ll see the Lady with the Finger (the one she pointed at the president) and you’ll see the Kinder, Gentler Governor, who wants a legacy as something more than the bully who won’t let Dreamers drive. Get your hypocrisy meters charged. You don’t want to go into this with a low battery.

Join thousands of azcentral.com fans on Facebook and get the day's most popular and talked-about Valley news, sports, entertainment and more - right in your newsfeed. You'll see what others are saying about the hot topics of the day.